Finally some shade at York Park

HIGHLAND PARK — A long-promised canopy has been finally installed at York Park, rising like a giant tent over the central play area. While the new park at the corner of York Boulevard and Avenue 50 has several trees, they are still too small to provide much shelter from the sun. Unfortunately, the York Park shade structure won’t be providing any relief from this weekend’s heat wave. The park is scheduled to remain closed until Monday when the installation is completed.

15 comments

Sorry but this park is awful. All concrete and plastic playground equipment. Where are the shade trees? Or even small areas of grass for sitting? Kids will have fun in any natural environment – why build an outdoor Chuck-E-Cheese instead of a real park? What a waste.

This is the future of city park. It is a high use play area that is easy ( low cost) to maintain. Grass is expensive to maintain. It needs constant care and water to keep it lush and green so you can ” sit on it”. The more use it it gets, the harder and more work it takes. Also grass is very limited to what you can do.R A play structure gives kids lots to climb and play on and use their imagination.
It is not practical to plant full size “shade” trees. Trees do not transplant well. It is extremely expensive and have a low success rate. Plus you need an established root system to support the tree during wind and to provide water. Also a full size tree may only live another 5-10 years, while a new tree can live 20-30+ years.

The negative comments about this park sound like the stupidest reflections of people who’ve only driven by the park or have only seen pictures of it. In real life, in person, on the ground, it is a middling park with some fantastic amenities built into it (a functioning LA parks department bathroom and drinking fountains!!! – a miracle!) AND surrounded by some of the best local shops and restaurants in the area.

People on Facebook were bitching about the “lack of trees” at this park – holy mother of … trees have been planted and take time to grow!

It’s a nice park. It was WAY too sunny and hot before. Nobody would go there from 1pm to 4pm. It was brutal. Not sure if I am a fan of the “big top” they put up. Trees would be the best solution, but they take years to grow. For the amount of space, it is a great place to take my kid. Plus we can walk to CdL and get a coffee before;)

There are a lot of fun things like the bells, drums. etc. I like the amphitheater seating and hope they start using it for bands, poetry readings etc.

Maybe some people have only driven/walked past this (and not gone in) because it’s basically just a children’s playground? I mean, that’s fine… but not exactly what I think of when I hear the word “park”.

Either way, the idea that we can’t have public lawns because it would require maintenance just speaks to the incompetence of local government. Other cities manage to do these things. But I suppose when there’s only 9% voter turnout, most people in LA just don’t care.

It’s a playground. A park can have a playground in it, but a playground is not a park. When I heard we were getting a park I thought it would be a place where everyone in the community could go, but it’s just for kids and parents. I have been there, played with musical instruments for a bit than left as it felt like that episode of Maron where the moms call him a creep for hanging out in the park.

I think a big part of that is that this was “community designed” instead of being designed by an experienced professional Landscape Architect.

I agree with others that parks and even playgrounds should have trees! As our climate warms we should be growing our urban forest wherever we can.

Also trees are great for absorbing sound. Just like there is no better place acoustically for having a conversation than under a tree, there is no better play space since the trees do such a good job of absorbing the sound of screaming children.

Unfortunately district 14 council member Jose Huizar seems to have a blind spot for the value of the urban forest so this being roofed with a circus tent instead of having trees could also have something to do with his attitude.

What’s weird is the city didn’t put an apron for the crosswalk there at the York & Ave 50 intersection. The corner is the entrance to the park, and it is a huge curb. Strollers, bikes, wheelchairs can’t cross the street to get to the park,

If there is a crosswalk there should be an apron at the beginning and end of it. I notice this a lot walking around Highland Park & Eagle Rock. Colorado Blvd has this problem too.

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